Having spent the better part of a decade around the Memphis area, I concur. But deliberate antagonism of some of them is not at all a particularly good idea.
Posted on 07/14/2005 6:10:21 AM PDT by robowombat
Bias against Southerners misses the mark By RICHARD COX Published July 11, 2005
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Does prejudice exist in Pasco County, an area with a very diverse population and seemingly very progressive?
I am certain that African-Americans, Hispanics and people from other countries, the poor and homeless, as well as members of certain religious faiths, experience treatment different from the mainstream populace. However, I am a member of a minority who has experienced attitudes and reactions from many individuals who assume that I am intellectually and socially challenged.
A very large percentage of the population of New Port Richey in particular is from the Northeast. I personally like the outspokenness, mince-no-words attitude, the ability to criticize as well as accept criticism without being offended, that seems to represent the culture in which Northerners grew up.
My family members seem to have the disadvantage of being born and living most of our lives in the South, in our case, Tennessee. I grew up in Knoxville, a city that many people seem to associate only with the fanatical behavior of our college football fans, and my wife is from a small city near Chattanooga.
There still seems to be a stereotype that some people associate with Tennesseans. When those individuals heard the distinct accent of my wife, my stepdaughter, and myself, it seemed to conjure up that redneck image one might associate with the humor of Jeff Foxworthy and other Southern comedians. That image is of a culture of ignorant hillbillies (certainly due to inbreeding!), barefoot, living in a shack with no indoor plumbing (but certainly an outhouse in back), having a dog living under the front porch, and owning an overgrown lawn populated with broken-down, dilapidated automobiles. And, yes, we all chew tobacco and sit on the front porch swing playing the banjo. Everyone also flies a Confederate flag and reminisces about the War Between the States.
I first noticed this attitude when my stepdaughter, an honor student, came home from middle school several days in tears because several other students harassed her daily, calling her an ignorant redneck and hillbilly among other derogatory terms. My wife and I have experienced the sudden change in facial expressions from many when they hear our accent. They seem to associate our accent with ignorance, and speak in simpler terms so that we can understand what they are saying. Telephone conversations often produce the same reaction.
I beg to differ. Tennessee is the home of several major universities, four major metropolitan areas with all the drug and gang problems associated with other large cities, and the most visited national park in the United States. Oak Ridge, in the Knoxville area, probably has as high a percentage of residents with doctorate degrees as any city in the United States. Tennessee has a musical heritage equal to none, and it is not exclusively country or bluegrass genres. Many nationally prominent politicians are from my home state, including three former presidents.
Tennessee has produced many famous musicians, actors, scientists and other intellectual and talented natives.
Well, to set the story straight, rural areas of most states have their own populace and dwellings that approach this stereotype.
My wife and I grew up in your average suburban neighborhoods, we both graduated from major universities and had successful professional careers, and, to risk seeming boastful, are probably as intelligent and knowledgeable, if not more so, than the average American. Believe it or not, East Tennessee, the section of the state we are from, fervently supported the Union during the Civil War.
I have noticed in the Pasco Times notices of meetings for various groups from areas of the Northeast and from other countries. Perhaps Southerners in our area should form a similar group. With apologies to an African-American group with a similar title, we could call our group the NAASF, the National Association for the Advancement of Southern Folks, Pasco County Branch. I hope there are enough local Southern residents available to attract to our organization.
--Richard Cox, a retired middle school science teacher and department head, lives in New Port Richey
Q: Hey, is it true that everybody in the South lives in a trailer park?A: No.
Q: Okay, do you have electricity?
A: Yes.
Q: What about shoes?
A: Sure.Oh, and by the way, why do you keep asking me all of these questions? Do you have a problem with POOR PEOPLE in general or do you just hate POOR PEOPLE with Southern accents?
THAT usually shuts them up.
Amen brother. Clueless Yankees they say............God help us all.
God is a Yankee by the way and we both know it. But let the rebels have their fun anyway :-)
Reminds me of a funny story from my old workplace (I live in NY). We had a new employee from Colorado. He had a very distinctive accent, to us anyway. One of the Chinese employees asked me "What country is he from?"
I am a New Yorker. I had a friend who moved up here from South Carolina and he had quite a culture shock. As he put it, "In NY you have to prove that you aren't an ax murderer before people will talk to you and in SC you have to prove you are an ax murderer before people WON'T talk to you."
It's interesting you should say that. There are a number of sociologists who have commented on the similarity between Asian (and more specifically Confucian) cultures and Southern culture.
I think this thread could be a little bit of harmless ribbing, but I think some of the neo-confederates might take it too seriously.
How so? Please elaborate.
Maybe it's the cultural divide, but I have always been put off by the cloyingly sweet friendliness of Southern women.
It gets my defences up- when someone I don't know very well is too friendly and nice, I start to wonder what they want from me. I'm more comfortable with a little bit more reserve when I'm dealing with unfamiliar people.
Maybe it's the cultural divide, but I have always been put off by the cloyingly sweet friendliness of Southern women.
It gets my defences up- when someone I don't know very well is too friendly and nice, I start to wonder what they want from me. I'm more comfortable with a little bit more reserve when I"'m dealing with unfamiliar people."
I'll second that.
I grew up in Canada before I moved south to Michigan. I used to think that Midwesterners were too open and friendly, compared to Canadians.
"Yup... but I'm pretty thick skinned. No offense taken. In the end....we're all Americans... that's the only thing that counts FRiend.
Peace."
You're right. In the end we all have to work together to restore this country to what the Founding Fathers intended it to be: a place where no one has to bow to someone just because they were born to a higher social class, and where free men can exercise all their rights under the constitution. As you might guess, I'm partial to the Second Amendment. Peace to you, brother.
Indeed. The reaction of most Southerners to reading The Analects of Confucius is, "Well, that's pretty much what mamma taught me!"
Pasco County Florida above St Pete and Clearwater on Gulf
the South should of won , it would not be like this now...
If Lee had listened to Longstreet , if Stewart had done his job , if New Orleans had been defended and some sniper had pegged Grant....if if if...
After all we do in South Carolina raise rice and worship our ancestors.
LOL...Exactly!
It used to be that when the red box of the end came, the train was all.
Sadly, those days are gone.
Having spent the better part of a decade around the Memphis area, I concur. But deliberate antagonism of some of them is not at all a particularly good idea.
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